h 

i&!n^(^^^^^^H 

J^UDOLF   CREES 


HENRY  ALTEMUS   COMPANY 


1'    H   I   L  A   D   E   L   r   H   I   A 


THE  DRUMS  OF  THE  FORE 
AND  AFT. 

In  the  Army  List  they  still  stand  as  "  The 
Fore  and  Fit  Princess  Hohenzollern-Sig- 
maringen  -  Auspach's  Merther  -  Tydfilshire 
Own  Eoyal  Loyal  Light  Infantry,  Regi- 
mental District  329  A/'  bnt  the  army 
through  all  its  barracks  and  canteens  knows 
them  now  as  the  "Fore  and  Aft."  They 
may  in  time  do  something  that  shall  make 
their  new  title  honorable,  but  at  present 
they  are  bitterly  ashamed,  and  the  man  who 
calls  them  "  Fore  and  Aft "  does  so  at  the 
risk  of  the  head  which  is  on  his  shoulders. 

Two  words  breathed  into  the  stables  of  a 
certain  cavalry  regiment  will  bring  the  men 
out  into  the  streets  with  belts  and  mops  and 
bad  language;  but  a  whisper  of  "  Fore  and 
Aft "  will  bring  out  this  regiment  with 
rifles. 

Their  one  excuse  is  that  they  came  again 

6 

2054802 


6       The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

and  did  their  best  to  finish  the  job  in  style. 
But  for  a  time  all  their  world  knows  that 
they  were  openly  beaten,  whipped,  dumb- 
cowed,  shaking  and  afraid.  The  men  know 
it;  their  officers  know  it;*  the  Horse  Guards 
know  it;  and  when  the  next  war  comes  the 
enemy  will  know  it  also.  There  are  two  or 
three  regiments  of  the  line  that  have  a  black 
mark  against  their  names  which  they  will 
then  wipe  out,  and  it  will  be  excessively  in- 
convenient for  the  troops  upon  whom  they 
do  their  wiping. 

The  courage  of  the  British  soldier  is  offi- 
cially supposed  to  be  above  proof,  and,  as  a 
general  rule,  it  is  so.  The  exceptions  are  de- 
cently shoved  out  of  sight,  only  to  be  re- 
ferred to  in  the  freshest  of  unguarded  talk 
that  occasionally  swamps  a  mess-table  at 
midnight.  Then  one  hears  strange  and  hor- 
rible stories  of  men  not  following  their  offi- 
cers, of  orders  being  given  by  those  w^ho  had 
no  right  to  give  them,  and  of  disgrace  that, 
but  for  the  standing  luck  of  the  British 
Army,  might  have  ended  in  brilliant  disas- 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  aad  Aft.      7 

ter.  These  are  impleasant  stories  to  listen  to, 
and  the  messes  tell  them  under  their  breath, 
sitting  by  the  big  wood  fires,  and  the  young 
officer  bows  his  head  and  thinks  to  himself, 
please  God,  his  men  shall  never  behave  un- 
handily. 

The  British  soldier  is  not  altogether  to  be 
blamed  for  occasional  lapses;  but  this  verdict 
he  should  not  know.  A  moderately  intelli- 
gent general  will  waste  six  months  in  mas- 
tering the  craft  of  the  particular  war  that  he 
may  be  waging;  a  colonel  may  utterly  mis- 
understand the  capacity  of  his  regiment  for 
three  months  after  it  has  taken  the  field;  and 
even  a  company  commander  may  err  and  be 
deceived  as  to  the  temper  and  temperament 
of  his  own  handful;  wherefore  the  soldier, 
and  the  soldier  of  to-day  more  particularly, 
should  not  be  blamed  for  falling  back.  He 
should  be  shot  or  hanged  afterwards — pour 
encourager  les  autres — but  he  should  not  be 
vilified  in  newspapers,  for  that  is  want  of 
tact  and  waste  of  space. 

He  has,  let  us  say,  been  in  the  service  of 


8       The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

the  empress  for,  perhaps,  four  years.  He 
will  leave  in  another  two  years.  He  has  no 
inherited  morals,  and  four  years  are  not  suf- 
ficient to  drive  toughness  into  his  fibre,  or  to 
teach  him  how  holy  a  thing  is  his  regiment. 
He  wants  to  drink,  he  wants  to  enjoy  him- 
self— in  India  he  wants  to  save  money — and 
he  does  not  in  the  least  like  getting  hurt. 
He  had  received  just  sufficient  education  to 
make  him  understand  half  the  purport  of  the 
orders  he  receives,  and  to  speculate  on  the 
nature  of  clean,  incised,  and  shattering 
wounds.  Thus,  if  he  is  told  to  deploy  under 
fire  preparatory  to  an  attack,  he  knows  that 
he  runs  a  very  great  risk  of  being  killed 
while  he  is  deploying,  and  suspects  that  he  is 
being  thrown  away  to  gain  ten  minutes' 
time.  He  may  either  deploy  with  desperate 
swiftness,  or  he  may  shuffle,  or  bunch,  or 
break,  according  to  the  discipline  under 
which  he  has  lain  for  four  years. 

Armed  with  imperfect  knowledge,  cursed 
with  the  rudiments  of  an  imagination,  ham- 
pered by  the  intense  selfishness  of  the  lower 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.       9 

classes,  and  unsupported  by  any  regimental 
associations,  this  young  man  is  suddenly  in- 
troduced to  an  enemy  who  in  eastern  lands 
is  always  ugly,  generally  tall  and  hairy,  and 
frequently  noisy.  If  he  looks  to  the  right 
and  the  left  and  sees  old  soldiers — men  of 
twelve  years'  service,  who,  he  knows,  know 
what  they  are  about — taking  a  charge,  rush, 
or  demonstration  without  embarrassment  he 
is  consoled,  and  applies  his  shoulder  to  the 
butt  of  his  rifle  with  a  stout  heart.  His 
peace  is  the  greater  if  he  hears  a  senior,  who 
has  taught  him  his  soldiering  and  broken 
his  head  on  occasion,  whispering:  "  They'll 
shout  and  carry  on  like  this  for  five  minutes, 
then  they'll  rush  in,  and  then  we've  got  'em 
by  the  short  hairs! " 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  if  he  sees  only 
men  of  his  own  term  of  service,  turning 
white  and  playing  with  their  triggers  and 
saying:  ''What  the  helFs  up  now?"  while 
the  company  commanders  are  sweating  into 
their  sword-hilts  and  shouting:  "  Front- 
rank,  fix  bayonets!      Steady  there — steady  I 


10     The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

Sight  for  three  hundred — no,  for  five!  Lie 
down,  all  !  Steady!  Front-rank,  kneel  !" 
and  so  forth,  he  becomes  unhappy;  and 
grows  acutely  miserable  when  he  hears  a 
^comrade  turn  over  wdth  the  rattle  of  fire- 
irans  falling  over  the  fender,  and  the  grunt 
of  a  pole-axed  ox.  If  he  can  be  moved  about 
a  little  and  allowed  to  watch  the  effect  of  his 
own  fire  on  the  enemy,  he  feels  merrier,  and 
may  be  then  worked  up  to  the  blind  passion 
of  fighting,  which  is,  contrary  to  general 
belief,  controlled  by  a  chilly  devil  and  shakes 
men  like  ague.  If  he  is  not  moved  about, 
and  begins  to  feel  cold  at  the  pit  of  the 
stomach,  and  in  that  crisis  is  badly  mauled 
and  hears  orders  that  were  never  given,  he 
will  break,  and  he  will  break  badly;  and  of 
all  things  under  the  sight  of  the  sun  there  is 
nothing  more  terrible  than  a  broken  British 
regiment.  When  the  worst  comes  to  the 
worst,  and  the  panic  is  really  epidemic,  the 
men  must  be  e'en  let  go,  and  the  company 
commanders  had  better  escape  to  the  enemy 
and  stay  there  for  safety's  sake.    If  they  can 


The  Drum5  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.     11 

be  made  to  come  again,  they  are  not  pleasant 
men  to  meet,  because  they  will  not  break 
twice. 

About  thirty  years  from  this  date,  when 
we  have  succeeded  in  half-educating  every- 
thing that  wears  trousers,  our  army  will  be 
a  beautifully  unreliable  machine.  It  will 
know  too  much,  and  it  will  do  too  little. 
Later  still,  when  all  men  are  at  the  mental 
level  of  the  officer  of  to-day,  it  will  sweep 
the  earth.  Speaking  roughly,  you  must  em- 
ploy either  blackguards  or  gentlemen,  or, 
best  of  all,  blackguards  commanded  by  gen- 
tlemen, to  do  butcher^s  work  with  efficiency 
and  dispatch.  The  ideal  soldier  should,  of 
course,  think  for  himself — the  pocket-hooik 
says  so.  Unfortunately,  to  attain  this  vir- 
tue, he  has  to  pass  through  the  phase  of 
thinking  of  himself,  and  that  is  misdirected 
genius.  A  blackguard  may  be  slow  to  think 
for  himself,  but  he  is  generally  anxious  to 
kill,  and  a  little  punishment  teaches  him 
how  to  guard  his  own  skin  and  perforate 
another's.      A  powerfully   prayerful   High- 


12     Tlie  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

land  regiment,  officered  by  rank  Presbyte- 
rians, is  perhaps  one  degree,  more  terrible  in 
action  than  a  hard-bitten  thousand  of  irre- 
sponsible Irish  ruffians,  led  by  most  improper 
young  unbelievers.  But  these  things  prove 
the  rule  —  which  is,  that  the  midway  men 
are  not  to  be  trusted  alone.  They  have  ideas 
about  the  value  of  life  and  an  up-bringing 
that  has  not  taught  them  to  go  on  and  take 
the  chances.  They  are  carefully  unprovided 
with  a  backing  of  comrades  who  have  been 
shot  over,  and  until  that  backing  is  reintro- 
duced, as  a  great  many  regimental  com- 
manders intend  it  shall  be,  they  are  more 
liable  to  disgrace  themselves  than  the  size 
of  the  empire  or  the  dignity  of  the  army 
allows.  Their  officers  are  as  good  as  good 
can  be,  because  their  training  begins  early, 
and  God  has  arranged  that  a  clean-run  youth 
of  the  British  middle  classes  shall,  in  the 
matter  of  backbone,  brains,  and  bowels,  sur- 
pass all  other  youths.  For  this  reason,  a 
child  of  eighteen  will  stand  up,  doing  noth- 
ing, with  a  tin  sword  in  his  hand  and  joy 


The  Dmmc  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.     13 

in  his  heart  until  he  is  dropped.  If  he  dies, 
he  dies  like  a  gentleman.  If  he  lives,  he 
writes  home  that  he  has  been  "  potted," 
"  sniped,'^  "  chipped "  or  "  cut  over,"  and 
sits  down  to  besiege  the  government  for  a 
wound-gratuity  until  the  next  little  war 
breaks  out,  when  he  perjures  himself  before 
a  medical  board,  blarneys  his  colonel,  burns 
incense  round  his  adjutant,  and  is  allov/ed 
to  go  to  the  front  once  more. 

Which  homily  brings  me  directly  to  a 
brace  of  the  most  finished  little  fiends  that 
ever  banged  drum  or  tooted  fife  in  the  band 
of  a  British  regiment.  They  ended  their 
sinful  career  by  open  and  flagrant  mutiny 
and  were  shot  for  it.  Their  names  were 
Jakin  and  Lew — Piggy  Lew — and  they  were 
bold,  bad  drummer-boys,  both  of  them  fre- 
quently birched  by  the  drum-major  of  the 
Fore  and  Aft. 

Jakin  was  a  stunted  child  of  fourteen,  and 
Lew  was  about  the  same  age.  When  not 
looked  after,  they  smoked  and  drank.  They 
swore  habitually   after  the   manner  ©f  the 


14     The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

barrack-room,  wliich  is  cold-swearing  and 
comes  from  between  clenched  teeth;  and 
they  fought  religiously  once  a  week.  Jakin 
had  sprung  from  some  London  gutter  and 
may  or  may  not  have  passed  through  Dr. 
Barnado's  hands  ere  he  arrived  at  the  dig- 
nity of  a  drummer-boy.  Lew  could  remember 
nothing  except  the  regiment  and  the  delight 
of  listening  to  the  band  from  his  earliest 
years.  He  hid  somewhere  in  his  grimy  lit- 
tle soul  a  genuine  love  for  music,  and  was 
most  mistakenly  furnished  with  the  head  of 
a  cherub;  insomuch  that  beautiful  ladies 
who  watched  the  regiment  in  church  were 
wont  to  speak  of  him  as  a  ^^darling."  They 
never  heard  his  vitriolic  comments  on  their 
manners  and  morals,  as  he  walked  back  to 
barracks  with  the  band  and  matured  fresh 
causes  of  offense  against  Jakin. 

The  other  drummer-boys  hated  both  lads 
on  account  of  their  illogical  conduct.  Jakin 
might  be  pounding  Lew,  or  Lew  might  be 
rubbing  Jakin's  head  in  the  dirt;  but  any  at- 
tempt at  aggression  on  the  part  of  an  outsider 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.     15 

was  met  by  the  combined  forces  of  Lew  and 
Jakin,  and  the  consequences  were  painful. 
The  boys  were  the  Ishmaels  of  the  corps,  but 
wealthy  Ishmaels,  for  they  sold  battles  in  al- 
ternate weeks  for  the  sport  of  the  barracks 
when  they  were  not  pitted  against  other 
boys;  and  thus  amassed  money. 

On  this  particular  day  there  was  dissension 
in  the  camp.  They  had  just  been  convicted 
afresh  of  smoking,  which  is  bad  for  little 
boys  who  use  plug  tobacco,  and  Lew's 
contention  was  that  Jakin  had  "  stunk  so 
'orrid  bad  from  keepin'  the  pipe  in  his 
pocket,"  that  he  and  he  alone  was  respon- 
sible for  the  birching  they  were  both  tingling 
under. 

"  I  tell  you  I  'id  the  pipe  back  o'  barricks," 
said  Jakin  pacifically. 

"You're  a  bloomin'  liar,"  said  Lew  with- 
out heat. 

"  You're  a  bloomin'  little  barstard,"  said 
Jakin,  strong  in  the  knowledge  that  his  own 
ancestry  was  unknown. 

'Now  there  is  one  word  in  the  extended  vo- 


16     The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

cabulary  of  barrack-room  abuse  that  cannot 
pass  without  comment.  You  may  call  a  man 
a  thief  and  risk  nothing.  You  may  even 
call  him  a  coward  wdthout  finding  more 
than  a  boot  whizz  past  your  ear,  but  you 
must  not  call  a  man  a  bastard  unless  you  are 
prepared  to  prove  it  on  his  front  teeth. 

"  You  might  ha'  kep'  that  till  I  wasn't  so 
sore,"  said  Lew,  sorrowfully,  dodging  round 
Jakin's  guard. 

"  I'll  make  you  sorer,"  said  Jakin,  gen- 
ially, and  got  home  on  Lew's  alabaster  fore- 
head. All  would  have  gone  well,  and  this 
story,  as  the  books  say,  would  never  have 
been  written,  had  not  his  evil  fate  prompted 
the  Bazaar-Sergeant's  son,  a  long,  employless 
man  of  five-and-twenty,  to  put  in  appear- 
ance after  the  first  round.  He  was  eternally 
in  need  of  money,  and  knew  that  the  boys 
had  silver. 

"  Fighting  again,"  said  he.  "  I'll  report 
you  to  my  father,  and  he'll  report  you  to 
the  Color-Sergeant." 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.     17 

''\Vhat's  that  to  you?"  said  Jakin,  with 
an  unpleasant  dilation  of  the  nostrils. 

"  Oh  !  nothing  to  me.  You'll  get  into 
trouble,  and  you've  been  up  too  often  to 
afford  that." 

''^What  the  hell  do  you  know  about  what 
we've  done?"  asked  Lew,  the  Seraph.  "  You 
aren't  in  the  army,  you  lousy,  cadging  civil- 
ian!" 

He  closed  in  on  the  man's  left  flank. 

"Jes'  'cause  you  find  two  gentlemen  set- 
tlin'  their  diff'rences  with  their  fistes,  you 
stick  in  your  ugly  nose  where  you  aren't 
wanted.  Run  'ome  to  your  'arf-caste  slut  of 
a  ma — or  we'll  give  you  what-for/'  said 
Jakin. 

The  man  attempted  reprisals  by  knocking 
the  boys'  heads  together.  Tlie  scheme  would 
have  succeeded  had  not  Jakin  punched  him 
vehemently  in  the  stomach,  or  had  Lew  re- 
frained from  kicking  his  shins.  They  fought 
together,  bleeding  and  breathless,  for  half  an 
hour,  and  after  heavy  punishment,  triumph- 


18     The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

antly  pulled  down  their  opponent  as  terriers 
pull  down  a  jackal. 

"  Now"  gasped  Jakin,  "  I'll  give  you  what- 
for."  He  proceeded  to  pound  the  man's 
features  while  Lew  stamped  on  the  outlying 
portions  of  his  anatomy.  Chivalry  is  not  a 
strong  point  in  the  composition  of  the  aver- 
age drummer-boy.  He  fights,  as  do  his 
betters,  to  make  his  mark. 

Ghastly  was  the  ruin  that  escaped,  and 
awful  was  the  wrath  of  the  Bazaar-Sergeant. 
Awful,  too,  was  the  scene  in  the  orderly- 
room  where  the  two  reprobates  appeared  to 
answer  the  charge  of  half -murdering  a  '^  ci- 
vilian." The  Bazaar-Sergeant  thirsted  for  a 
criminal  action,  and  his  son  lied.  The  boys 
stood  to  attention  while  the  black  clouds  of 
evidence  accumulated. 

"  You  little  devils  are  more  trouble  than 
the  rest  of  the  regiment  put  together,"  said 
the  colonel,  angrily.  "  One  might  as  well 
admonish  thistledown,  and  I  can't  well  put 
you  in  cells  or  under  stoppages.  You  must 
be  flogged  again." 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.     19 

"  Beg  y'  pardon,  sir.  Can't  we  say  nothin' 
in  our  own  defense,  sir?"  shrilled  Jakin. 

"Hey!  What?  Are  you  going  to  argue 
with  me?"  said  the  colonel. 

"  No,  sir,"  said  Lew.  "  But  if  a  man  come 
to  you,  sir,  and  said  he  was  going  to  report 
you,  sir  for  'aving  a  bit  of  a  turn-up  with  a 
friend,  sir,  an'  wanted  to  get  money  out  o' 
you,  sir — " 

The  orderly-room  exploded  in  a  roar  of 
laughter.     "  Well?"  said  the  colonel. 

"  That  was  what  that  measly  jarnwar 
there  did,  sir,  and  'e'd  a'  done  it,  sir,  if  we 
'adn't  prevented  'im.  We  didn't  'it  'im 
much,  sir.  'E  'adn't  no  manner  o'  right  to 
interfere  with  us,  sir.  I  don't  mind  bein' 
flogged  by  the  Drum-Major,  sir,  nor  yet  re- 
ported by  any  corp'ral,  but  I'm — but  I  don't 
think  it's  fair,  sir,  for  a  civilian  to  come  an' 
talk  over  a  man  in  the  army." 

A  second  shout  of  laughter  shook  the 
orderly-room,  but  the  colonel  was  grave. 

"What  sort  of  characters  have  these  boys?'^ 
he  asked  of  the  regimental  sergeant-major. 


20     The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

"Accordin'  to  the  Bandmaster,  sir/'  re- 
turned that  revered  official — the  only  soul 
in  the  regiment  whom  the  boys  feared — 
'^'^they  do  everything  tut  lie,  sir/' 

"  Is  it  like  we'd  go  for  that  man  for  fun, 
sir?"  said  Lew,  pointing  to  the  plaintiff. 

"Oh,  admonished — admonished  I"  said  the 
colonel,  testily,  and,  when  the  boys  had  gone, 
he  read  the  Bazaar-Sergeant's  son  a  lecture 
on  the  sin  of  unprofitable  meddling  and  gave 
orders  that  the  Bandmaster  should  keep  the 
drums  in  better  discipline. 

"  If  either  of  you  come  to  practice  again 
with  so  much  as  a  scratch  on  your  two  ugly 
little  faces/'  thundered  the  Bandmaster,  "1*11 
iell  the  Drum-^Iajor  to  take  the  skin  off 
3^our  backs.  Understand  that,  you  young 
devils." 

Then  he  repented  of  his  speech  for  just  the 
length  of  time  that  Lew,  looking  like  a  ser- 
aph in  red-worsted  embellishments,  took  the 
place  of  one  of  the  trumpets — in  hospital — 
and  rendered  the  echo  of  a  battle-piece.  Lew 
certainly  was  a  musician,  and  had  often,  in 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.     21 

his  more  exalted  moments,  expressed  a  yearn- 
ing to  master  every  instrument  of  the  hand. 

"  There's  nothing  to  prevent  your  becom- 
ing a  Bandmaster,  Lew/'  said  the  Bandmas- 
ter, who  had  composed  waltzes  of  his  own, 
and  worked  day  and  night  in  the  interests  of 
the  band. 

'^^Yhat  did  he  say?"  demanded  Jaldn^ 
after  practice. 

"  Said  I  might  he  a  bloomin'  Bandmaster, 
an'  be  asked  in  to  'ave  a  glass  o'  sherry-wine 
on  mess-nights." 

"IIo!  Said  you  might  be  a  bloomin'  non- 
combatant,  did  'e?  That's  just  about  wot  'e 
would  say.  ^Mien  I've  put  in  my  boy's  ser- 
vice— it's  a  bloomin'  shame  that  doesn't 
count  for  pension — I'll  take  on  a  privit. 
Then,  I'll  be  a  lance  in  a  year — knowin'  what 
I  know  about  the  ins  an'  outs  o'  things.  In 
three  years,  I'll  be  a  bloomin'  sergeant.  I 
won't  marry  then,  not  I!  I'll  hold  on,  and 
learn  the  orf'cers'  ways,  an'  apply  for  ex- 
change into  a  reg'ment  that  doesn't  know  all 
about  me.     Then  I'll  be  a  bloomin'  orf'cer. 


22     The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

Then  I'll  ask  you  to  'ave  a  glass  o'  sherry- 
wine,  Mister  Lew,  an'  you'll  bloomin'  well 
'ave  to  stay  in  the  hanty-room  while  the 
mess-sergeant  brings  it  to  your  dirty  'ands." 

"  S'pose  I'm  going  to  be  a  Bandmaster? 
Xot  I,  quite.  I'll  be  a  orf'cer,  too.  There's 
nothin'  like  taking  to  a  thing  an'  stickin'  to 
it,  the  schoolmaster  says.  The  reg'ment  don't 
go  'ome  for  another  seven  years.  I'll  be  a 
lance  then  or  near  to." 

Thus  the  boy's  discussed  their  futures,  and 
conducted  themselves  with  exemplary  piety 
for  a  week.  That  is  to  say,  Lew  started  a 
flirtation  with  the  Color-Sergeant's  daughter, 
aged  thirteen — ''  not,"  as  he  explained  to  Ja- 
kin,  "with  any  intention  o'  matrimony,  but 
by  way  o'  keepin'  my  'and  in."  And  the 
black-haired  Cris  Delighan  enjoyed  that  flir- 
tation more  than  previous  ones,  and  the  other 
drummer-boys  raged  furiously  together,  and 
Jakin  preached  sermons  on  the  dangers  of 
"  bein'  tangled 'along  o'  petticoats." 

But  neither  love  nor  virtue  would  have 
held  Lew  long  in  the  paths  of  propriety,  had 


The  Drums  of  tlie  Fore  and  Aft.     23 

not  the  rumor  gone  abroad  that  the  regiment 
was  to  be  sent  on  active  service,  to  take  part 
in  a  war  which,  for  the  sake  of  brevit}^  we 
will  call  "  The  War  of  the  Lost  Tribes." 

The  barracks  had  the  rumor  almost  before 
the  mess-room,  and  of  all  the  nine  hundred 
men  in  barracks  not  ten  had  seen  a  shot  fired 
in  anger.  The  colonel  had,  twenty  years 
ago,  assisted  at  a  frontier  expedition;  one 
of  the  majors  had  seen  service  at  the  Cape; 
a  confirmed  deserter  in  E  Company  had 
helped  to  clear  streets  in  Ireland;  but  that 
was  all.  The  regiment  had  been  put  by  for 
many  years.  The  overwhelming  mass  of  its 
rank  and  file  had  from  three  to  four  years' 
service;  the  non-commissioned  officers  were 
under  thirty  years  old;  and  men  and  ser- 
geants alike  had  forgotten  to  speak  of  the 
stories,  written  in  brief  upon  the  colors — the 
new  colors  that  had  been  formally  blessed 
by  an  archbishop  in  England  ere  the  regi- 
ment came  away. 

They  wanted  to  go  to  the  front — they  were 
enthusiastically  anxious  to  go — but  they  had 


24:     The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

no  knowledge  of  what  war  meant,  and  there 
was  none  to  tell  them.  They  were  an  edu- 
cated regiment,  the  percentage  of  school  cer- 
tificates in  their  ranks  was  high,  and  most  of 
the  men  could  do  more  than  read  and  write. 
They  had  heen  recruited  in  loyal  observance 
of  the  territorial  idea;  but  they  themselves 
had  no  notion  of  that  idea.  They  were  made 
lip  of  drafts  from  an  overpopulated  manu- 
facturing district.  The  system  had  put  flesh 
and  muscle  upon  their  small  bones,  but  it 
could  not  put  heart  into  the  sons  of  those 
who  for  generations  had  done  overmuch 
work  for  over-scanty  pay,  had  sweated  in 
drying-rooms,  stooped  over  looms,  coughed 
among  white-lead,  and  shivered  on  lime- 
barges.  The  men  had  found  food  and  rest 
in  the  army,  and  now  they  were  going  to 
fight  ^'^niggers" — people  who  ran  away  if  you 
shook  a  stick  at  them.  Wherefore  they 
cheered  lustily  when  the  rumor  ran,  and 
the  shrewd,  clerkly,  non-commissioned  offi- 
cers speculated  on  the  chances  of  battle  and 
of  saving  their  pay.     At  head-quarters^  men 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.     25 

said :  "  The  Fore  and  Fit  have  never  heen 
under  fire  within  the  last  generation.  Let 
us,  therefore,  break  them  in  easily  by  setting 
them  to  guard  lines  of  communication." 
And  this  would  have  been  done  but  for  the 
fact  that  British  regiments  were  wanted — 
badly  wanted — at  the  front,  and  there  were 
doubtful  native  regiments  that  could  fill  the 
minor  duties.  "  Brigade  'em  with  two  strong 
regiments,"  said  head-quarters.  "  They  may 
be  knocked  about  a  bit,  but  they'll  learn 
their  business  before  they  come  through. 
Nothing  like  a  night-alarm,  and  a  little  cut- 
ting-up  of  stragglers  to  make  a  regiment 
smart  in  the  field.  Wait  till  they've  had  a 
half  dozen  sentries'  throats  cut." 

The  colonel  wrote  with  delight  that  the 
temper  of  his  men  was  excellent,  that  the 
regiment  was  all  that  could  be  wished,  and 
as  sound  as  a  bell.  The  majors  smiled  with 
a  sober  joy,  and  the  subalterns  waltzed  in 
pairs  down  the  mess-room  after  dinner  and 
nearly  shot  themselves  at  revolver-practice. 
But  there  was  consternation  in  the  hearts  of 


26     The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

Jakin  and  Lew.  What  was  to  be  done  with 
the  drums?  Would  the  band  go  to  the 
front?  How  many  of  the  drums  would  ac- 
company the  regiment? 

They  took  council  together,  sitting  in  a 
tree  and  smoking. 

"  It's  more  than  a  bloomin'  toss-up  they'll 
leave  us  be'ind  at  the  depot  with  the  women. 
You'll  like  that,"  said  Jakin,  sarcastically. 

"'Cause  o'  Cris,  y'  mean?  Wot's  a  w^o- 
man,  or  a  'ole  bloomin'  depot  o'  women, 
'longside  o'  the  chanst  of  field-service?  You 
know  I'm  as  keen  on  goin'  as  you,"  said  Lew. 

"Wish  I  was  a  bloomin'  bugler,"  said 
Jakin,  sadly.  "They'll  take  Tom  Kidd 
along,  that  I  can  plaster  a  wall  with,  an'  like 
as  not  they  won't  take  us." 

"  Then  let's  go  an'  make  Tom  Kidd  so 
bloomin'  sick  'e  can't  bugle  no  more.  You 
'old  'is  'ands,  an'  I'll  kick  him,"  said  Lew, 
wriggling  on  the  branch. 

"  That  ain't  no  good,  neither.  We  ain't 
the  sort  o'  characters  to  presoom  on  our 
rep'tations — they're  bad.      If  they  have  the 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.     27 

band  at  the  depot  we  don't  go,  and  no  error 
titer e.  If  they  take  the  band  we  may  get  cast 
for  medical  unfitness.  Are  you  medical  fit. 
Piggy?  "  said  Jakin,  digging  Lew  in  the  ribs 
with  force. 

"  Yus,"  said  Lew,  with  an  oath.  ''  The 
doctor  says  your  'eart's  weak  through 
smokin'  on  an  empty  stummick.  Throw  a 
chest,  an'  I'll  try  yer." 

Jakin  threw  out  his  chest,  which  Lew 
smote  with  all  his  might.  Jakin  turned  very 
pale,  gasped,  crowed,  screwed  up  his  eyes, 
and  said,  "  That's  all  right." 

"You'll  do"  said  Lew.  "I've  'card  'o 
men  dyin'  when  you  'it  'em  fair  on  the 
breast-bone." 

"  Don't  bring  us  no  nearer  goin',  though," 
said  Jakin.  "  Do  you  know  where  we're 
ordered?  " 

"  Gawd  knows,  an'  'e  won't  split  on  a  pal. 
Somewheres  up  to  the  front  to  kill  Paythans 
— hairy  big  beggars  that  turn  you  inside 
out  if  they  get  'old  of  you.  They  say  their 
women  are  good-looking,  too." 


28     Tlie  Drum^s  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

"Any  loot?"  asked  the  abandoned  Jakin. 

"  Not  a  bloomin'  anna,  -  they  say,  unless 
they  dig  np  the  ground  an'  see  what  the  nig- 
gers 'ave  'id.  They're  a  poor  lot."  Jakin 
stood  upright  on  the  branch  and  gazed  across 
the  plain. 

"  Lew,"  said  he,  "  there's  the  colonel  com- 
ing. Colonel's  a  good  old  beggar.  Let's  go 
an'  talk  to  'im." 

Lew  nearly  fell  out  of  the  tree  at  the 
audacity  ot  the  suggestion.  Like  Jakin,  he 
feared  not  God,  neither  regarded  he  man, 
but  there  are  limits  even  to  the  audacity  of 
a  drummer-boy,  and  to  speak  to  a  colonel 
was — 

But  Jakin  had  slid  down  the  trunk  and 
doubled  in  the  direction  of  the  colonel. 
That  officer  was  walking  wrapped  in  thought 
and  visions  of  a  C.  B. — yes,  even  a  K.  C.  B., 
for  had  he  not  at  command  one  of  the  best 
regiments  of  the  line — the  Fore  and  Fit  ? 
And  he  was  aware  of  two  small  boys  charg- 
ing down  upon  him.  Once  before,  it  had 
been  solemnly  reported  to  him  that  "  the 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.     29 

drums  were  in  a  state  of  mutiny;"  Jakin 
and  Lew  being  the  ringleaders.  This  looked 
like  an  organized  conspiracy. 

The  boys  halted  at  twenty  yards,  walked 
to  the  regulation  four  paces,  and  saluted 
together,  each  as  well  set-up  as  a  ramrod  and 
little  taller. 

The  colonel  was  in  a  genial  mood;  the  boys 
appeared  very  forlorn  and  unprotected  on 
the  desolate  plain,  and  one  of  them  was 
handsome. 

^^  Well  ! "  said  the  colonel,  recognizing 
them.  *^^Are  you  going  to  pull  me  down  in 
the  open?  I'm  sure  I  never  interfere  with 
you,  even  though  " — he  sniffed  suspiciously 
— "you  have  been  smoking." 

It  was  time  to  strike  while  the  iron  was 
hot.     Their  hearts  beat  tumultuously. 

"  Beg  y'  pardon,  sir,"  began  Jakin.  "The 
reg'ment's  ordered  on  active  service,  sir?" 

"  So  I  believe,"  said  the  colonel,  courte- 
ously. 

"  Is  the  band  goin',  sir  ?  "  said  both  to- 


so     The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

gether.  Then,  without  pause,  "  We're  going 
sir,  ain't  we?" 

"You!"  said  the  colonel,  stepping  back' 
the  more  fully  to  take  in  the  two  small 
figures.  "  You!  You'd  die  in  the  first 
march." 

"  Xo,  we  wouldn't,  sir.  We  can  march 
with  the  reg'ment  anywheres — p'rade  an' 
anywhere  else,"  said  Jakin. 

"  If  Tom  Kidd  goes,  'e'll  shut  up  like  a 
clasp-knife,"  said  Lew.  "  Tom  'as  very-close 
veins  in  both  'is  legs,  sir." 

"  Very  how  much  ?  " 

"Very-close  veins,  sir.  That's  why  they 
swells  after  long  p'rade,  sir.  If  'e  can  go, 
we  can  go,  sir." 

Again  the  colonel  looked  at  them  long  and 
intently. 

"Yes,  the  band  is  going,"  he  said  as  gravely 
as  though  he  had  been  addressing  a  brother 
officer.  "  Have  you  any  parents,  either  of 
you  two  ?" 

"Xo,  sir,"  rejoicingly  from  Lew  and  Jakin. 
"  We're  both  orphans,  sir.  There's  no  one 
to  be  considered  of  on  our  account,  sir." 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.     31 

"  You  poor  little  sprats,  and  you  want  to 
go  up  to  the  front  with  the  regiment,  do 
you?     Why?" 

"I've  wore  the  queen's  uniform  for  two 
years/'  said  Jakin.  "  It's  very  'ard,  sir,  that 
a  man  don't  get  no  recompense  for  doin'  'is 
dooty,  sir." 

"An' — an'  if  I  don't  go,  sir,"  interrupted 
Lew,  "  the  Bandmaster  'e  says  'e'll  catch  an' 
make  a  bloo — a  blessed  musician  o'  me,  sir. 
Before  I've  seen  any  service,  sir." 

The  colonel  made  no  answer  for  a  long 
time.  Then  he  said,  quietly:  "If  you're 
passed  by  the  doctor,  I  dare  say  you  can  go. 
I  shouldn't  smoke  if  I  were  3^ou." 

The  boys  saluted  and  disappeared.  The 
colonel  walked  home  and  told  the  story  to 
his  wife,  who  nearly  cried  over  it.  The 
colonel  w^as  well  pleased.  If  that  was  the 
temper  of  the  children,  v^hat  would  not  the 
men  do? 

Jakin  and  Lew  entered  the  boys'  barrack- 
room  with  great  stateliness,  and  refused  to 


32     Tlic  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

hold  any  conversation  with  their  comrades 
for  at  least  ten  minutes.  Then,  bursting  with 
pride,  Jakin  drawled :  "  I've  been  intervooin' 
the  colonel.  Good  old  beggar  is  the  colonel. 
Says  I  to  'im,  Tolonel,'  says  I,  *  let  me  go  to 
the  front,  along  o'  the  reg'ment.'  'To  the 
front  you  shall  go,'  says  'e,  'an'  I  only  wish 
there  was  more  like  you  among  the  dirty 
little  devils  that  bang  the  bloomin'  drums.' 
Kidd,  if  3^ou  throw  your  'couterments  at  me 
for  tellin'  you  the  truth  to  your  own  advan- 
tage, your  legs  '11  swell." 

Xone  the  less  there  was  a  battle-royal  in 
the  barrack-room,  for  the  boys  were  con- 
sumed with  envy  and  hate,  and  neither 
Jakin  nor  Lew  behaved  in  conciliatory  wise. 

"  I'm  goin'  out  to  say  adoo  to  my  girl,'' 
said  Le>v,  to  cap  the  climax.  "  Don't  none 
o'  you  touch  my  kit,  because  it's  wanted  for 
active  service,  me  bein'  specially  invited  to 
go  by  the  colonel." 

lie  strolled  forth  and  whistled  in  the 
clump  of  trees  at  the  back  of  the  married 
quarters  till  Cris  came  to  him,  and,  the  pre- 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.     33 

liminary  kisses  heing  given  and  taken,  Lew 
began  to  explain  the  situation. 

''I'm  goin'  to  the  front  with  the  regiment/' 
he  said,  valiantly. 

"  Piggy,  you're  a  little  liar,"  said  Cris,  but 
her  heart  misgave  her,  for  Lew  was  not  in 
the  habit  of  lying. 

"  Liar  yourself,  Cris,"  said  Lew,  slipping 
an  arm  around  her.  "  I'm  goin'.  When 
the  rcg'ment  marches  out  you'll  see  me  with 
'em,  all  galliant  and  gay.  Give  us  another 
kiss,  Cris,  on  the  strength  of  it." 

"  If  you'd  only  stayed  at  the  depot — where 
you  ouglii  to  ha'  bin — you  could  get  as  many 
of  'em  as — as  you  damn  please,"  whimpered 
Cris,  putting  up  her  mouth. 

"  It's  ard,  Cris.  I  grant  you,  it's  'ard. 
But  what's  a  man  to  do?  If  I'd  a-stayed  at 
the  depot,  you  wouldn't  think  anything  of 
me." 

"  Like  as  not,  but  I'd  'ave  you  with  me. 
Piggy.  An'  all  the  thinkin'  in  the  world 
isn't  like  kissin'." 

"  An'  all  the  kissin'  in  the  world  isn't  like 


34     The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Ait. 

'arin  a  medal  to  wear  on  the  front  o'  your 
coat/' 

"  Tou  won't  get  no  medal." 

"  Oh,  yns,  I  shall,  though.  Me  an'  Jakin 
are  the  only  acting-drummers  that'll  be  took 
along.  All  the  rest  is  full  men,  an'  we'll  get 
our  medals  with  them." 

'"  They  might  ha'  taken  anybody  but  you. 
Piggy.  You'll  get  killed  —  you're  so  ven- 
turesome. Stay  with  me.  Piggy,  darlin', 
down  at  the  depot,  an'  I'll  love  you  true  for- 
ever." 

"Ain't  you  goin'  to  do  that  now,  Cris? 
You  said  you  was." 

"  0'  course  I  am,  but  th'  other's  more 
comfortable.  Wait  till  you've  growed  a 
bit.  Piggy.  You  aren't  no  taller  than  me 
now." 

"  I've  been  in  the  army  for  two  years  an' 
I'm  not  goin'  to  get  out  of  a  chanst  o'  seein' 
service  an'  don't  you  try  to  make  me  do  so. 
I'U  come  back,  Cris,  an'  when  I  take  on  as  a 
man  I'U  marry  you — marry  you  when  I'm  a 
lance." 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.     35 

"Promise,  Piggy?" 

Lew  reflected  on  the  future  as  arranged  by 
Jakin  a  short  time  previously,  but  Cris's 
mouth  was  very  near  to  his  own. 

"I  promise,  s'elp  me  Gawd!"  said  he. 

Cris  slid  an  arm  round  his  neck. 

"  I  won't  'old  you  back  no  more,  Piggy. 
Go  away  an'  get  your  medal,  an'  I'll  make 
you  a  new  button-bag  as  nice  as  I  know 
how,"  she  whispered. 

"  Put  some  o'  your  'air  into  it,  Cris,  an^ 
111  keep  it  in  my  pocket  so  long's  I'm 
alive." 

Then  Cris  wept  anew,  and  the  interview 
ended.  Public  feeling  among  the  drummer- 
boys  rose  to  fever  pitch,  and  the  lives  of 
Jakin  and  Lew  became  unenviable.  Xot 
only  had  they  been  permitted  to  enlist  two 
years  before  the  regulation  boy's  age — four- 
teen— ^but,  by  virtue,  it  seemed,  of  their  ex- 
treme youth,  they  were  allowed  to  go  to  the 
front — Avhich  thing  had  not  happened  to  act- 
ing-drummers within  the  knowledge  of  boy. 
The  band  which  was  to  accompany  the  regi- 


36     The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

ment  had  been  cut  down  to  the  regulation 
twenty  men,  the  surplus  returning  to  the 
ranks.  Jakin  and  Lew  were  attached  to  the 
hand  as  supernumeraries,  though  they  would 
much  have  preferred  being  company  bu- 
glers. 

"Don't  matter  much,"  said  Jakin,  aftei 
the  medical  inspection.  "  Be  thankful  that 
we're  'lowed  to  go  at  all.  The  doctor  'e  said 
that  if  we  could  stand  what  we  took  from 
the  Bazaar-Sergeant's  son,  we'd  stand  pretty 
nigh  everything." 

"  Which  we  will,"  said  Lew,  looking  ten- 
derly at  the  ragged  and  ill-made  housewife 
that  Cris  had  given  him,  with  a  lock  of  her 
hair  worked  into  a  sprawling  "  L  "  upon  the 
cover. 

"  It  was  the  best  I  could,"  she  sobbed.  "  I 
wouldn't  let  mother  nor  the  sergeant's  tailor 
'elp  me.  Keep  it  always,  Piggy,  an'  re- 
member I  love  you  true." 

They  marched  to  the  railway  station,  nine 
hundred  and  sixty  strong,  and  every  soul  in 
cantonments  turned  out  to  see  them  go.  The 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.     37 

drummers  gnashed  their  teeth  at  Jakin  and 
Lew  marching  with  the  band,  the  married 
women  wept  upon  the  platform,  and  the 
regiment  cheered  its  noble  self  black  in  the 
face. 

"A  nice  level  lot,"  said  the  colonel  to  the 
second  in  command  as  they  watched  the  first 
four  companies  entraining. 

"  Fit  to  do  anything,"  said  the  second  in 
conwnand,  enthusiastically.  "  But  it  seems 
to  me  they're  a  thought  too  young  and  ten- 
der for  the  work  in  hand.  It's  bitter  cold 
up  at  the  front  now." 

"  They're  sound  enough,"  said  the  colonel. 
"  We  must  take  our  chance  of  sick  casual- 
ties." 

So  they  went  northward,  ever  northward, 
past  droves  and  droves  of  camels,  armies  of 
camp  followers,  and  legions  of  laden  mules, 
the  throng  thickening  day  by  day,  till  with  a 
shriek  the  train  pulled  up  at  a  hopelessly 
congested  junction  where  six  lines  of  tem- 
porary track  accommodated  six  forty-wagon 
trains;  w^here  whistles  blew,  Babus  sweated 


38     The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

and  commissariat  officers  swore  from  dawn 
till  far  into  the  night  amid  the  wind-driven 
chaff  of  the  fodder-bales  and  the  lowing  of 
a  thousand  steers. 

"Hurry  up — you're  badly  wanted  at  the 
front,"  was  the  message  that  greeted  the 
Fore  and  Aft,  and  the  occupants  of  the  Eed 
Cross  carriages  told  the  same  tale. 

"'Tisn't  so  much  the  bloomin'  fightin'/' 
gasped  a  headbound  trooper  of  hussars  to  a 
knot  of  admiring  Fore  and  Aft's.  "'Tisn't 
so  much  the  bloomin  fightin',  though  there's 
enought  o'  that.  It's  the  bloomin'  food  an' 
the  bloomin'  climate.  Frost  all  night  'cept 
when  it  hails,  an'  bilin'  sun  all  day,  an'  the 
water  stinks  fit  to  knock  you  down.  I  got 
my  'ead  chipped  like  a  egg;  Fve  got  pneu- 
monia, too,  an'  my  guts  is  all  out  o'  order. 
'Tain't  no  bloomin'  picnic  in  those  parts,  I 
can  tell  you." 

"Wot  are  the  niggers  like?"  demanded  a 
private. 

"  There's  some  prisoners  in  that  train  yon- 
der.    Go  an'  look  at  'em.     They're  the  aris- 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.     39 

tocracy  o'  the  country.  The  common  folk 
are  a  dashed  sight  uglier.  If  you  want  to 
know  what  they  fight  with,  reach  under  my 
seat  an'  pull  out  the  long  knife  that's  there." 

They  dragged  out  and  beheld  for  the  first 
time  the  grim,  bone-handled,  triangular  Af- 
ghan knife.     It  was  almost  as  long  as  Lew. 

"That's  the  think  to  j'int  ye,"  said  the" 
trooper,  feebly.  "  It  can  take  off  a  man's 
arm  at  the  shoulder  as  easy  as  slicing  butter. 
I  halved  the  beggar  that  used  that  'un,  but 
there's  more  of  his  likes  up  above.  They 
don't  understand  thrustin',  but  they're  devils 
to  slice." 

The  men  strolled  across  the  tracks  to  in- 
spect the  Afghan  prisoners.  They  were 
unlike  any  "niggers"  that  the  Fore  and  Aft 
had  ever  met — these  huge,  black-haired, 
scowling  sons  of  the  Beni-Israel.  As  the 
men  stared,  the  Afghans  spat  freely  and 
muttered  one  to  another  with  lowered  eyes. 

"My  eyes!  Wot  awful  swine!"  said  Ja- 
kin,  who  was  in  the  rear  of  the  procession. 
"  Say,  old  man,  how  you  got  puckrowed,  eh  ? 


40     The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

Kisivasti  you  wasn't  hanged  for  your  ugly 
face,  hey?" 

The  tallest  of  the  company  turned,  his  leg- 
irons  clanking  at  the  movement,  and  stared 
at  the  boy.  "  See! "  he  cried  to  his  fellows 
in  Pushto,  "they  send  children  against  us. 
"What  a  people,  and  what  fools!" 

"Hya!'^  said  Jakin,  nodding  his  head, 
cheerily.  "  You  go  down-country.  Kliana 
get,  peenil^apanee  get — live  like  a  bloomin' 
rajah  he  marfil'.  That's  a  better  landolmst 
than  baynit  get  it  in  your  inwards.  Good- 
bye, old  man.  Take  care  o'  your  beautiful 
figure-'ed,  an'  try  to  look  Icusliy.^^ 

The  men  laughed  and  fell  in  for  their  first 
march,  when  they  began  to  realize  that  a  sol- 
dier's life  was  not  all  beer  and  skittles.  They 
were  much  impressed  with  the  size  and  bes- 
tial ferocity  of  the  niggers,  whom  they  had 
now  learned  to  call  "  Paythans,"  and  more 
with  the  exceeding  discomfort  of  their  own 
surroundings.  Twenty  old  soldiers  in  the 
corps  would  have  taught  them  how  to  make 
themselves  moderately  snug  at  night,  but 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.     41 

they  had  no  old  soldiers,  and,  as  the  troops 
on  the  line  of  march  said,  "they  lived  like 
pigs."  They  learned  the  heart-breaking  cuss- 
edness  of  camp-kitchens  and  camels  and  the 
depravity  of  an  E.  P.  tent  and  a  wither- 
wrung  mule.  They  studied  animalcule  in 
water,  and  developed  a  few  cases  of  dysen- 
tery in  their  study. 

•  At  the  end  of  their  third  march  they  were 
disagreeably  surprised  by  the  arrival  in  their 
camp  of  a  hammered  iron  slug  which,  fired 
from  a  steady-rest  at  seven  hundred  yards, 
flicked  out  the  brains  of  a  private  seated  by 
the  fire.  This  robbed  them  of  their  peace  for 
a  night,  and  was  the  beginning  of  a  long- 
range  fire  carefully  calculated  to  that  end. 
In  the  daytime  they  saw  nothing  except  an 
occasional  puff  of  smoke  from  a  crag  above 
the  line  of  march.  At  night  there  were  dis- 
tant spurts  of  flame  and  occasional  casual- 
ties, which  set  the  whole  camp  blazing  into 
the  gloom,  and,  occasionally,  into  opposite 
tents.  Then  they  swore  vehemently  and 
vowed  that  this  was  magnificent  but  not  war. 


4C     'riic   Drums  of  the   Fore  and  Aft. 

liuioed  it  was  not.  Tlio  vogimcnt  could 
not  liali  for  ropvisals  aiZ-ainst  the  sharp- 
shooters of  tho  country-sido.  lis  duty  was 
to  go  forward  and  nuiko  oounoctiou  with  tho 
Scotch  and  Ciurkha  troops  with  whicii  it  was 
brigaded.  The  Afghans  knew  this,  and 
knew,  too.  after  their  lirst  tentative  shots, 
that  they  were  deahng  with  a  raw  regiment. 
Thereatter  tiiey  devoted  tiiemselves  to  the 
task  of  keeping  the  Fore  and  Aft  on  the 
strain.  ^Soi  for  anything  wouhl  they  have 
taken  equal  liberties  wit  It  a  seasoned  corps — 
with  the  wicked  little  liurkhas  whose  delight 
it  was  to  lie  otn  in  tlie  o}Hm  on  a  ilark  night 
and  stalk  their  stalkers — with  the  terrible, 
big  men  dressed  in  women's  clothes,  who 
could  be  heard  praying  to  their  lied  in  tho 
night-watches,  and  whose  peace  o(  mind  no 
amount  of  "snipping"  could  shake — or  with 
those  vile  Sikhs,  who  marched  so  ostenta- 
tiously unprepared,  and  who  dealt  out  such 
grim  reward  to  those  who  tried  to  }n'otlt  by 
that  unpreparedness.  This  white  regiment 
was  diHerent — quite  ditlereut.     It  slept  like 


Tho  Drums  of  tlio  Fore  and  Aft.     43 

a  hog,  arid,  liko  a  ho;.^,  charged  in  every  di- 
rection when  it  was  roused.  Its  sentries 
walked  with  a  footfall  that  could  he  heard 
for  a  quarter  of  a  mile;  would  fire  at  any- 
thing that  moved — even  a  driven  donkey — 
and  when  they  had  once  fired,  could  be  scien- 
tifically "rushed  "  and  laid  out  a  horror  and 
an  offense  against  the  morning  sun.  Then 
there  were  camp-followers  who  stra;zgled  and 
could  he  cut  up  without  fear.  Their  shrieks 
would  disturb  the  white  boys,  and  the  loss  of 
their  services  would  inconvenience  them 
sorely. 

Thus,  at  every  march,  the  hidden  enemy 
became  bolder  and  the  regiment  writhed  and 
twisted  under  attacks  it  could  not  avenge. 
The  crowning  triumph  was  a  sudden  night- 
rush  ending  in  the  cutting  of  many  tent- 
ropes,  the  collapse  of  tlie  sudden  canvas  and 
a  glorious  knifing  of  the  men  who  struggled 
and  k'icked  below.  It  was  a  great  deed, 
neatly  carried  out,  and  it  shook  the  already 
shaken  nerves  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.  All  the 
courage  that  they  had  been  required  to  exer- 


•44     The  Drums  of  tlie  Fore  and  Aft. 

cise  np  to  this  point  was  the  "two  o'clock  in 
the  morning  courage;"  and  they,  so  far,  had 
only  succeeded  in  shooting  their  comrades 
and  losing  their  sleep. 

Sullen,  discontented,  cold,  savage,  sick, 
with  their  uniforms  dulled  and  unclean  the 
Fore  and  Aft  joined  their  brigade. 

"  I  hear  you  had  a  tough  time  of  it  coming 
up"  said  the  brigadier.  But  when  he  saw 
the  hospital-sheets  his  face  fell. 

"This  is  bad,"  said  he  to  himself.  "They're 
as  rotten  as  sheep."  And  aloud  to  the  colo- 
nel, "  I'm  afraid  we  can't  spare  you  just  yet. 
We  want  all  we  have,  else  I  should  have 
given  you  ten  days  to  recruit  in." 

The  colonel  winced.  "  On  my  honor,  sir," 
he  returned,  "there  is  not  the  least  necessity 
to  think  of  sparing  us.  My  men  have  been 
rather  mauled  and  upset  without  a  fair  re- 
turn. They  only  want  to  go  in  somewhere 
where  they  can  see  what's  before  them." 

"  Can't  say  I  think  much  of  the  Fore  and 
Aft,"  said  the  brigadier  in  confidence  to  his 
brigade-major.     "  They've  lost  all  their  sol- 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.     45 

diering,  and  by  the  trim  of  them,  might  have 
marched  through  the  country  from  the  other 
side.  A  more  fagged-out  set  of  men  I  never 
put  eyes  on." 

"  Oh,  they'll  improve  as  the  work  goes  on. 
The  parade  gloss  has  been  rubbed  off  a  little, 
but  they'll  put  on  field  polish  before  long," 
said  the  brigade-major.  "  They've  been 
mauled,  and  they  don't  quite  understand  it." 

They  did  not.  All  the  hitting  was  on  one 
side,  and  it  was  cruelly  hard  hitting  with  ac- 
cessories that  made  them  sick.  There  was 
also  the  real  sickness  that  laid  hold  of  a 
strong  man  and  dragged  him  howling  to  the 
grave.  Worst  of  all,  their  officers  knew  Just 
as  little  of  the  country  as  the  men  them- 
selves, and  looked  as  if  they  did.  The  Fore 
and  Aft  were  in  a  thoroughly  unsatisfactory 
condition,  but  they  believed  that  all  would 
be  well  if  they  once  got  a  fair  go-in  at  the 
enemy.  Pot-shots  up  and  down  the  valleys 
were  unsatisfactory,  and  the  bayonet  never 
seemed  to  get  a  chance.  Perhaps  it  was  as 
well,  for  a  long-limbed  Afghan  with  a  knife 


46     Tlie  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

had  a  reach  of  eight  feet,  and  could  carry 
away  enough  lead  to  disable  three  English- 
men. The  Fore  and  Aft  would  like  some 
rifle  practice  at  the  enemy — all  seven  hun- 
dred rifles  blazing  together.  That  wish 
showed  the  mood  of  :he  men. 

The  Gurkhas  walked  into  their  camp,  and 
in  broken,  barrack-room  English  strove  to 
fraternize  with  them;  offered  them  pipes  of 
tobacco,  and  stood  them  treat  at  the  canteen. 
But  the  Fore  and  Aft,  not  knowing  much  of 
the  nature  of  the  Gurkhas,  treated  them  as 
they  would  treat  any  other  "niggers,"  and 
the  little  men  in  green  trotted  back  to  their 
firm  friends,  the  Highlanders,  and  with 
many  grins  confided  to  them:  "'  That  damn 
white  regiment  no  damn  use.  Sulky — ugh  ! 
Dirty — ugh!  Hya,  any  tot  for  Johnny?" 
Whereat  the  Highlanders  smote  the  Gur- 
khas as  to  the  head,  and  told  them  not  to 
vilify  a  British  regiment,  and  the  Gurkhas 
grinned  cavernously,  for  the  Highlanders 
were  their  elder  brothers  and  entitled  to  the 
privileges  of  kinship.     The  common  soldier 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.     47 

who  touches  a  Gurkha  is  more  than  likely 
to  have  his  head  sliced  open. 

Three  days  later,  the  brigadier  arranged 
a  battle  according  to  the  rules  of  war  and 
the  peculiarity  of  the  Afghan  temperament. 
The  enemy  were  massing  in  inconvenient 
strength  among  the  hills,  and  the  moving  of 
many  green  standards  warned  him  that  the 
tribes  were  "up"  in  aid  of  the  Afghan  regu- 
lar troops.  A  squadron  and  a  half  of  Ben- 
gal lancers  represented  the  available  cavalry, 
and  two  screw-guns  borrowed  from  a  column 
thirty  miles  away,  the  artillery  at  the  gen- 
eral's disposal. 

"  If  they  stand,  as  I've  a  very  strong  no- 
tion that  they  will,  I  ?ancy  we  shall  see  an 
infantry  fight  that  will  be  worth  watching," 
said  the  brigadier.  "We'll  do  it  in  style. 
Each  regiment  shall  be  played  into  action  by 
its  band,  and  we'll  hold  the  cavalry  in  re- 
serve." 

"For  all  the  reserve?"  somebody  asked. 

"  For  all  the  reserve;  because  we're  going 
to  crumple  them  up,"  said  the  brigadier,  who 


48     Th.e  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

was  an  extraordinary  brigadier,  and  did  not 
believe  in  tlie  value  of  a  reserve  when  deal- 
ing with  Asiatics.  And  indeed,  when  you 
come  to  think  of  it,  had  the  British  army 
consistently  waited  for  reserves  in  all  its 
little  affairs,  the  boundaries  of  our  empire 
would  have  stopped  at  Brighton  beach. 
That  battle  was  to  be  a  glorious  battle. 
The  three  regiments  debouching  from 
three  separate  gorges,  after  duly  crowning 
the  heights  above,  were  to  converge  from  the 
center,  left,  and  right  upon  what  we  will  call 
the  Afghan  army,  then  stationed  toward  the 
lower  extremity  of  a  flat-bottomed  valley. 
Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  three  sides  of  the 
valley  practically  belonged  to  the  English, 
while  the  fourth  was  strictly  Afghan  prop- 
erty. In  the  event  of  defeat,  the  Afghans 
had  the  rocky  hills  to  fly  to,  where  the  fire 
from  the  guerilla  tribes  in  aid  would  cover 
their  retreat.  In  the  event  of  victory,  these 
same  tribes  would  rush  down  and  lend  their 
weight  to  the  rout  of  the  British. 

The  screw-guns  were  to  shell  the  head  of 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.     49^ 

each  Afghan  rush  that  was  made  in  close 
formation,  and  the  cavalry,  held  in  reserve 
in  the  right  valley,  were  to  gently  stimulate 
the  break-up  which  would  follow  on  the 
combined  attack.  The  brigadier,  sitting 
upon  a  rock  overlooking  the  valley,  would 
watch  the  battle  unrolled  at  his  feet.  The 
Fore  and  Aft  would  debouch  from  the  cen- 
tral gorge,  the  Gurkhas  from  the  left,  and 
the  liighlanders  from  the  right,  for  the 
reason  that  the  left  flank  of  the  enemy 
seemed  as  though  it  required  the  most  ham- 
mering. It  was  not  every  day  that  an  Af- 
ghan force  would  take  ground  in  the  open, 
and  the  brigadier  was  resolved  to  make  the 
most  of  it. 

"  If  we  only  had  a  few  more  men,"  he 
said  plaintively,  "  we  could  surround  the 
creatures  and  crumble  'em  up  thoroughly. 
As  it  is,  I'm  afraid  we  can  only  cut  them  up 
as  they  run.     It's  a  great  pity." 

The  Fore  and  Aft  had  enjoyed  unbroken 
peace  for  five  days,  and  were  beginning,  in 
spite  of  dysentery,  to  recover  their  nerve.. 


50     The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

Eut  they  were  not  happy,  for  they  did  not 
know  the  work  in  hand,  and  had  they 
known,  would  not  have  known  how  to  do 
it.  Throughout  those  five  days  in  which  old 
.soldiers  might  have  taught  them  the  craft  of 
the  game,  they  discussed  together  their  mis- 
adventures in  the  past — how  such  an  one 
was  alive  at  dawn  and  dead  ere  the  dusk, 
and  with  what  shrieks  and  struggles  such 
another  had  given  up  his  soul  under  the 
Afghan  knife.  Death  was  a  new  and  horri- 
ble thing  to  the  sons  of  mechanics  who  were 
used  to  die  decently  of  zymotic  disease;  and 
their  careful  conservation  in  barracks  had 
done  nothing  to  make  them  look  upon  it 
with  less  dread. 

Very  early  in  the  dawn  the  bugles  began 
to  blow,  and  the  Fore  and  Aft  filled  with  a 
misguided  enthusiasm,  turned  out  without 
waiting  for  a  cup  of  coffee  and  a  biscuit ; 
and  were  rewarded  by  being  kept  under 
arms  in  the  cold  while  the  other  regiments 
leisurely  prepared  for  the  fray.  All  the 
world  knows  that  it  is  ill  taking  the  breeks 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.     51 

off  a  Highlander.  It  is  much  iller  to  try  to 
make  him  stir  unless  he  is  convinced  of  the 
necessity  for  haste. 

The  Fore  and  Aft  waited,  leaning  upon 
their  rifles  and  listening  to  the  protests  of 
their  empty  stomachs.  The  colonel  did  his 
best  to  remedy  the  default  of  lining  as  soon 
as  it  was  borne  in  upon  him  that  the  affair 
would  not  begin  at  once,  and  so  well  did  he 
succeed  that  the  coffee  was  just  ready  when 
— the  men  moved  off,  their  band  leading. 
Even  then  there  had  been  a  mistake  in  time, 
and  the  Fore  and  Aft  came  out  into  the 
valley  ten  minutes  before  the  proper  hour. 
Their  band  wheeled  to  the  right  after  reach- 
ing the  open,  and  retired  behind  a  little 
rocky  knoll,  still  playing  while  the  regiment 
went  past. 

It  was  not  a  pleasant  sight  that  opened  on 
the  unobstructed  view,  for  the  lower  end  of 
the  valley  appeared  to  be  filled  by  an  army 
in  position — real  and  actual  regiments  at- 
tired in  red  coats,  and — of  this  there  was  no 
doubt — firing   Martini-Henri   bullets  which 


52     The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

cut  up  the  ground  a  hundred  j^ards  in  front 
of  the  leading  company.  Over  that  pock- 
marked ground  the  regiment  had  to  pass, 
and  it  opened  the  ball  with  a  general  and 
profound  courtesy  to  the  piping  pickets ; 
ducking  in  perfect  time,  as  though  it  had 
been  brazed  on  a  rod.  Being  half  capable 
of  thinking  for  itself,  it  fired  a  volley  by 
the  simple  process  of  pitching  its  rifle  into 
its  shoulder  and  pulling  the  trigger.  The 
bullets  may  have  accounted  for  some  of 
the  watchers  on  the  hill-side,  but  they  cer- 
tainly did  not  affect  the  mass  of  enemy  in 
front,  while  the  noise  of  the  rifles  drowned 
any  orders  that  might  have  been  given. 

"Good  God!"  said  the  brigadier,  sitting 
on  the  rock  high  above  all.  "  That  regi- 
ment has  spoiled  the  whole  show.  Hurry 
up  the  others,  and  let  the  screw-guns  get 
off." 

But  the  screw-guns,  in  working  round  the 
heights,  had  stumbled  upon  a  wasp's  nest  of 
a  small  mud  fort  which  they  incontinently 
shelled  at  eight  hundred  yards,  to  the  huge 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.     53 

discomfort  of  the  occupants,  who  were  -un- 
accustomed to  weapons  of  such  devilish  pre- 
cision. 

The  Fore  and  Aft  continued  to  go  for- 
ward, but  with  shortened  stride.  Where 
were  the  other  regiments,  and  why  did  these 
niggers  use  Martinis?  They  took  open  order 
instinctively,  lying  down  and  firing  at  ran- 
dom, rushing  a  few  paces  forward  and  lying 
down  again,  according  to  the  regulations. 
Once  in  this  formation  each  man  felt  him- 
self desperately  alone,  and  edged  in  toward 
his  fellow  for  comfort's  sake. 

Then  the  crack  of  his  neighbor's  rifle  at 
his  ear  led  him  to  fire  as  rapidly  as  he  could 
— again  for  the  sake  of  the  comfort  of  the 
noise.  The  reward  was  not  long  delayed. 
Five  volleys  plunged  the  files  in  banked 
smoke  impenetrable  to  the  eye,  and  the 
bullets  began  to  take  ground  twenty  or  thirty 
yards  in  front  of  the  firers,  as  the  weight  of 
the  bayonet  dragged  down,  and  the  right 
arms  wearied  with  holding  the  kick  of  the 
leaping  Martini.    The  company  commanders 


54     The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

peered  helplessly  through  the  smoke,  the 
more  nervous  mechanically  trying  to  fan  it 
away  with  their  helmets. 

"  High  and  to  the  left  I  "  bawled  a  captain 
till  he  was  hoarse.  "  Xo  good!  Cease  firing, 
and  let  it  drift  away  a  bit." 

Three  or  four  times  the  bugles  shrieked 
the  order,  and  when  it  was  obeyed  the  Fore 
and  Aft  looked  that  their  foe  should  be  lying 
before  them  in  mown  swaths  of  men.  A 
light  wind  drove  the  smoke  to  leeward,  and 
showed  the  enemy  still  in  position  and  appar- 
ently unaffected.  A  quarter  of  a  ton  of  lead 
had  been  buried  a  furlong  in  front  of  them, 
as  the  ragged  earth  attested. 

That  was  not  demoralizing.  They  were 
waiting  for  the  mad  riot  to  die  down,  and 
were  firing  quietly  into  the  heart  of  the 
smoke.  A  private  of  the  Fore  and  Aft  spun 
up  his  company  shrieking  with  agony, 
another  was  kicking  the  earth  and  gasping, 
and  a  third,  ripped  through  the  lower  intes- 
tines by  a  jagged  bullet,  was  calling  aloud 
on  his  comrades  to  put  him  out  of  his  pain. 


The  Drums  of  t'le  Fore  and  Aft.     55 

These  were  the  casualties,  and  they  were 
not  sootliing  to  hear  or  see.  The  smoke 
cleared  to  a  dull  haze. 

Then  the  foe  began  to  shout  with  a  great 
shouting  and  a  mass — a  black  mass — de- 
tached itself  from  the  main  body,  and  rolled 
over  the  ground  at  horrid  speed.  It  wa& 
composed  of,  perhaps,  three  hundred  men,, 
who  would  shout  and  fire  and  slash  if  the 
rush  of  their  fifty  comrades,  who  were  de- 
termined to  die,  carried  home.  The  fifty 
were  Ghazis,  half-maddened  with  drugs  and 
wholly  mad  with  religious  fanaticism. 
^Yhen  they  rushed,  the  British  fire  ceased, 
and  in  the  lull  the  order  was  given  to  close 
ranks  and  meet  them  with  the  bayonet. 

Any  one  who  knew  the  business  could 
have  told  the  Fore  and  Aft  that  the  only 
way  of  dealing  with  a  Ghazi  rush  is  by  vol- 
leys at  long  ranges;  because  a  man  who 
means  to  die,  who  desires  to  die,  who  will 
gain  heaven  by  dying,  must,  in  nine  cases 
out  of  ten,  kill  a  man  who  has  a  lingering 
prejudice  in  favor  of  life  if  he  can  close  with 


56     The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

the  latter.  Where  they  should  have  closed 
and  gone  forward,  the  Fore  and  Aft  opened 
out  and  skirmished,  and  where  they  should 
have  opened  out  and  fired,  they  closed  and 
waited. 

A  man  dragged  from  his  blankets  half 
■awake  and  unfed  is  never  in  a  pleasant  frame 
of  mind.  Xor  does  his  happiness  increase 
when  he  watches  the  whites  of  the  eyes  of 
three  hundred  six-foot  fiends  upon  whose 
beards  the  foam  is  lying,  upon  whose  tongues 
is  a  roar  of  wrath,  and  in  whose  hands  are 
three-foot  knives. 

The  Fore  and  Aft  heard  the  Gurkha 
bugles  bringing  that  regiment  forward  at  the 
double,  while  the  neighing  of  the  Highland 
pipes  came  from  the  left.  They  strove  to 
stay  where  they  were,  though  the  bayonets 
wavered  down  the  line  like  the  oars  of  a 
ragged  boat.  Then  they  felt  body  to  body 
the  amazing  physical  strength  of  their  foes; 
a  shriek  of  pain  ended  the  rush,  and  the 
knives  fell  amid  scenes  not  to  be  told.  The 
men  clubbed  together  and  smote  blindly — as 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.     57 

often  as  not  at  their  own  fellows.  Their 
front  crumpled  like  paper,  and  the  fifty 
Ghazis  passed  on;  their  backers,  now  drunk 
with  success,  fighting  as  madly  as  they. 

Then  the  rear  ranks  were  bidden  to  close 
up,  and  the  subalterns  dashed  into  the  stew 
— alone.  For  the  rear  rank  had  heard  the 
clamor  in  front,  the  yells  and  the  howls  of 
pain,  and  had  seen  the  dark  stale  blood  that 
makes  afraid.  They  were  not  going  to  stay. 
It  was  the  rushing  of  the  camps  over  again. 
Let  their  officers  go  to  hell,  if  they  chose; 
they  would  get  away  from  the  knives. 

"Come  on!"  shrieked  the  subalterns,  and 
their  men,  cursing  them,  drew  back,  each 
closing  into  his  neighbor  and  wheeling 
round. 

Charteris  and  Devlin,  subalterns  of  the 
last  company,  faced  their  death  alone  in  the 
belief  that  their  men  would  follow. 

"  xou've  killed  me,  you  cowards,"  sobbed 
Devlin,  and  dropped,  cut  from  the  shoulder- 
strap  to  the  centre  of  the  chest,  and  a  fresh 
detachment  of  his  men  retreating,   always 


58     The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

retreating,  trampled  him  nnder  foot  as  they 
made  for  the  pass  whence  they  had  emerged. 

I  kissed  her  in  the  kitchen  and  I  kissed  her  in  the  hall. 

Child' un,  child' un  follow  me  ! 
Oh,  Gollv,  said  the  cook,  is  he  gwine  to  kiss  us  all  ? 

Halla— Halla— Halla— Halliijah  ! 

The  Gurkhas  were  pouring  through  the 
left  gorge  and  over  the  heights  at  the  double 
to  the  invitation  of  their  regimental  quick- 
step. The  black  rocks  were  crowned  with 
dark-green  spiders  as  the  bugles  gave  tongue 
jubilantly: 

In  the  morning  !     In  the  morning  by  the  bright  light  ! 
"When  Gabriel  blows  his  trumpet  in  the  morning  I 

The  Gurkha  rear  companies  tripped  and 
blundered  over  loose  stones.  The  front  files 
halted  for  a  moment  to  take  stock  of  the 
valley  and  to  settle  stray  boot-laces.  Then 
a  happy  little  sigh  of  contentment  soughed 
down  the  ranks,  and  it  was  as  though  the 
land  smiled,  for  behold  there  below  was  the 
enemy,  and  it  was  to  meet  them  that  the 
Gurkhas  had  doubled  so  hastily.  There  was 
much  enemy.     There  would  be  amusement. 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.     59 

The  little  men  hitched  their  TcuJcris  well  to 
hand,  and  gaped  expectantly  at  their  officers 
as  terriers  grin  ere  the  stone  is  cast  for  them 
to  fetch.  The  Gurkhas'  ground  sloped  down- 
ward to  the  valley,  and  they  enjoyed  a  fair 
view  of  the  proceedings.  They  sat  upon  the 
bowlders  to  watch,  for  their  officers  were  not 
going  to  waste  their  wind  in  assisting  to  re- 
pulse a  Ghazi  rush  more  than  half  a  mile 
away.  Let  the  white  men  look  to  their  own 
front. 

"Hi!  yi  !"  said  the  Subadar  major,  who 
was  sweating  profusely.  "  Dam  fools  yon- 
der stand  close-order!  This  is  no  time  for 
close-order,  it's  the  time  for  volleys.  Ugh!  " 
Horrified,  amused,  and  indignant,  the  Gur- 
khas beheld  the  retirement — let  us  be  gentle 
— of  the  Fore  and  Aft  with  a  running  chorus 
of  oaths  and  commentaries. 

"They  run!  The  white  men  run!  Colonel 
Sahib,  may  we  also  do  a  little  running  ? " 
murmured  Eunbir  Thappa,  the  senior  Jem- 


But  the  colonel  would  have  none  of  it. 


60     The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

"  Let  the  beggars  be  cut  up  a  little/''  said  he, 
wrathfully.  "  Serves  'em  right.  They'll  be 
prodded  into  facing  round  in  a  minute."  He 
looked  through  his  field-glasses,  and  caught 
the  glint  of  an  officer's  sword. 

"  Beating  'em  with  the  flat — damned  con- 
scripts! IIow  the  Ghazis  are  walking  into 
them!  "  said  he. 

The  Fore  and  Aft,  heading  back,  bore  with 
them  their  officers.  The  narrowness  of  the 
pass  forced  the  mob  into  solid  formation,  and 
the  rear  rank  delivered  some  sort  of  a  waver- 
ing volley.  The  Ghazis  drew  off,  for  they 
did  not  know  what  reserves  the  gorge  might 
hide.  Moreover,  it  was  never  wise  to  chase 
white  men  too  far.  They  returned  as  wolves 
return  to  cover,  satisfied  with  the  slaughter 
that  they  had  done,  and  only  stopping  to 
slash  at  the  wounded  on  the  ground.  A 
quarter  of  a  mile  had  the  Fore  and  Aft  re- 
treated, and  now,  jammed  in  the  pass,  was 
quivering  with  pain,  shaken  and  demoralized 
with  fear,  while  the  officers,  maddened  be- 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.     61 

yond  control,  smote  the  men  with  the  hilts 
and  the  flats  of  their  swords. 

"Get  back!  Get  back,  you  cowards — you 
women!  Eight  about  face — column  of  com- 
panies, form — you  hounds!"  shouted  the 
colonel,  and  the  subalterns  swore  aloud. 
But  the  regiment  wanted  to  go — to  go  any- 
were  out  of  the  range  of  those  merciless 
knives.  It  swayed  to  and  fro  irresolutely 
with  shouts  and  outcries,  while  from  the 
right  the  Gurkhas  dropped  volley  after  vol- 
ley of  cripple-stopper  Snider  bullets  at  long 
range  into  the  mob  of  the  Ghazis  returning 
to  their  own  troops. 

The  Fore  and  Aft  band,  though  protected 
from  direct  fire  by  the  rocky  knoll  under 
which  it  had  sat  down,  fled  at  the  first  rush. 
Jakin  and  Lew  would  have  fled  also,  but 
their  short  legs  left  them  fifty  yards  in  the 
rear,  and  by  the  time  the  band  had  mixed 
with  the  regiment,  they  were  painfully  aware 
that  they  would  have  to  close  in  alone  and 
unsupported. 


62     The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

"  Get  back  to  that  rock,"  gasped  Jakin. 
"  They  won't  see  us  there." 

And  they  returned  to  the  scattered  instru- 
ments of  the  hand;  their  hearts  nearly  burst- 
ing their  ribs. 

"  Here's  a  nice  show  for  t/s/'  said  Jakin, 
throwing  himself  full  length  on  the  ground. 
"A  bloomin'  fine  show  for  British  infantry! 
Oh,  the  devils!  They've  gone  and  left  us 
here  alone!     Wot'll  we  do?" 

Lew  took  possession  of  a  cast-off  water- 
bottle,  which  naturally  was  full  of  canteen 
rum,  and  drank  till  he  coughed  again. 

"  Drink,"  said  he  shortly.  "  They'll  come 
back  in  a  minute  or  two — you  see." 

Jakin  drank,  but  there  was  no  sign  of  the 
regiment's  return.  They  could  hear  a  dull 
clamor  from  the  head  of  the  valley  of  re- 
treat, and  saw  the  Ghazis  slink  back,  quick- 
ening their  pace  as  the  Gurkhas  fired  at 
them. 

"We're  all  that's  left  of  the  band,  an' 
we'll  be  cut  up  as  sure  as  death,"  said  Jakin. 

"  I'll  die  game,  then,"  said  Lew  thickly, 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.     G3 

fumbling  with  his  tiny  drummer's  sword. 
The  drink  was  working  on  his  brain  as  it  was 
on  Jakin's. 

"'Old  on!  I  know  something  better  than 
fightin',"  said  Jakin,  stung  by  the  splendor 
of  a  sudden  thought,  due  chiefly  to  rum. 
"  Tip  our  bloomin'  cowards  yonder  the  word 
to  come  back.  The  Paythan  beggars  are 
well  away.  Come  on,  Lewi  We  won't  get 
hurt.  Take  the  fife  an'  give  me  the  drum. 
The  Old  Step  for  all  your  bloomin'  guts  are 
worth!  There's  a  few  of  our  men  coming 
back  now.  Stand  up,  ye  drunken  little 
defaulter.     By  your  right — quick  march!" 

He  slipped  the  drum-sling  over  his  shoul- 
ders, thrust  the  fife  into  Lew's  hand,  and  the 
two  boys  marched  out  of  the  cover  of  the 
rock  into  the  open,  making  a  hideous  hash 
of  the  first  bars  of  the  "  British  Grenadiers." 

As  Lew  had  said,  a  few  of  the  Fore  and 
Aft  were  coming  back  sullenly  and  shame- 
facedly under  the  stimulus  of  blows  and 
abuse;  their  red  coats  shone  at  the  head  of 
the  valley,  and  behind  them  were  wavering 


G4     The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

bayonets.  But  between  this  shattered  line 
and  the  enemy,  who  with  Afghan  suspicion 
feared  that  the  hasty  retreat  meant  an  am- 
bush, and  had  not  moved  therefore,  lay  half 
a  mile  of  level  ground  dotted  only  by  the 
wounded. 

The  tune  settled  into  full  swing,  and  the 
boys  kept  shoulder  to  shoulder,  Jakin  bang- 
ing the  drum  as  one  possessed.  The  one 
fife  made  a  thin  and  pitiful  squeaking,  but 
the  tune  carried  far,  even  to  the  Gurkhas. 

"Come  on,  you  dogs!''  muttered  Jakin  to 
himself.  "Are  we  to  play  forever?"  Lew 
was  staring  straight  in  front  of  him  and 
marching  more  stiffly  than  he  had  ever  done 
on  parade. 

And  in  bitter  mockery  of  the  distant  mob, 
the  old  tune  of  the  Old  Line  shrilled  and 
rattled: 

Some  talk  of  Alexander, 

And  some  of  Hercules  ; 
Of  Hector  and  Lysander, 

And  such  great  names  as  these. 

There  was  a  far-off  clapping  of  hands  from 
the  Gurkhas,  and  a  roar  from  the  Highland- 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.      65 

ers  in  the  distance,  but  never  a  shot  was  fired 
by  British  or  Afghan.  The  two  little  red 
dots  moved  forward  in  the  open  parallel  to 
the  enemy's  front. 

But  of  all  the  world's  great  heroes 
There' s  none  that  can  compare, 

With  a  tow-row-row-row-row-row, 
To  the  British  Grenadier  ! 

The  men  of  the  Fore  and  Aft  were  gather- 
ing thick  at  the  entrance  into  the  plain. 
The  brigadier  on  the  heights  far  above  was, 
speechless  with  rage.  Still  no  movement 
from  the  enemy.  The  day  stayed  to  watch 
the  children. 

Jakin  halted  and  beat  the  long  roll  of  the 
assembly,  while  the  fife  squealed  despair- 
ingly. 

"  Eight  about  face!  Hold  up,  Lew,  you're 
drunk,"  said  Jakin.  They  wheeled  and 
marched  back: 

Those  heroes  of  antiquity 
Ne'er  saw  a  cannon-ball, 
Nor  knew  the  force  o'  powder, 

"  Here  they  come!"  said  Jakin.  "  Go  on^ 
Lew:" 

To  scare  their  foes  wiihal ! 


m      The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

The  Fore  and  Aft  were  pouring  out  of 
the  valley.  What  officers  had  said  to  men  in 
that  time  of  shame  and  humiliation  will 
never  be  known,  for  neither  officers  nor  men 
speak  of  it  now. 

"  They  are  coming  anew!"  shouted  a  priest 
among  the  Afghans.  ^^Do  not  kill  the  boys! 
Take  them  alive,  and  they  shall  be  of  our 
faith." 

But  the  first  volley  had  been  fired,  and 
Lew  dropped  on  his  face.  Jakin  stood  for  a 
minute,  spun  round,  and  collapsed  as  the 
Fore  and  Aft  came  forward,  the  maledictions 
of  their  officers  in  their  ears,  and  in  their 
hearts  the  shame  of  open  shame. 

Half  the  men  had  seen  the  drummers  die, 
and  they  made  no  sign.  They  did  not  even 
shout.  They  doubled  out  straight  across  the 
plain  in  open  order,  and  they  did  not  fire. 

"  This,"  said  the  Colonel  of  the  Gurkhas, 
softly,  "  is  the  real  attack,  as  it  ought  to  have 
been  delivered.     Come  on,  my  children." 

"  Ulu-lu-lu-lu!"    squealed    the     Gurkhas, 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.      67 

and  came  down  with  a  joyful  clicking  of 
Tcukris — those  vicious  Gurkha  knives. 

On  the  right  there  was  no  rush.  The 
Highlanders  cannily  commending  their  souls 
to  God  (for  it  matters  as  much  to  a  dead 
man  whether  he  has  been  shot  in  a  border 
scuffle  or  at  Waterloo),  opened  out  and  fired 
according  to  their  custom;  that  is  to  sa}^, 
without  heat  and  without  intervals,  while 
the  screw-guns,  having  disposed  of  the  im- 
pertinent mud  fort  afore-mentioned,  dropped 
shell  after  shell  into  the  clusters  round  the 
flickering  green  standards  on  the  heights. 

"  Charging  is  an  unfortunate  necessity,'^ 
murmured  the  color-sergeant  of  the  right 
company  of  the  Highlanders. 

"It  makes  the  men  sweer  so,  but  I  am 
thinkin'that  it  will  come  to  a  charrge  if  these 
black  devils  stand  much  longer.  Stewarrt, 
man,  you're  firing  into  the  eye  of  the  sun, 
and  he'll  not  take  any  harm  for  government 
ammuneetion.  A  foot  lower  and  a  great 
deal  slower!     What  are  the  English  doing? 


68      The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

They're  very  quiet  there  in  the  centre.  Run- 
ning again?" 

The  English  were  not  running.  They 
were  hacking  and  hewing  and  stabbing,  for 
though  one  white  man  is  seldom  physically  a 
match  for  an  Afghan  in  a  sheep-skin  or 
wadded  coat,  yet,  through  the  pressure  of  the 
many  white  men  behind,  and  a  certain  thirst 
for  revenge  in  his  heart,  he  becomes  capable 
of  doing  much  with  both  ends  of  his  rifle. 
The  Fore  and  Aft  held  their  fire  till  one 
bullet  could  drive  through  five  or  six  men, 
and  the  front  of  the  Afghan  force  gave  on 
the  volley.  They  then  selected  their  men 
and  slew  them  with  deep  gasps  and  short 
hacking  coughs,  and  groanings  of  leather 
belts  against  strained  bodies,  and  realized  for 
the  first  time  that  an  Afghan  attacked  is  far 
less  formidable  than  an  Afghan  attacking  ; 
which  fact  old  soldiers  might  have  told  them. 

But  they  had  no  old  soldiers  in  their 
ranks. 

The  Gurkhas'  stall  at  the  bazaar  was  the 
noisiest,   for  the   men   were   engaged — to  a 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.      69 

nast}^  noise  as  of  beef  being  cut  on  the  block 
— with  the  Icukri,  which  they  preferred  to 
the  bayonet;  well  knowing  how  the  Afghan 
hates  the  half-moon  blade. 

As  the  Afghans  wavered,  the  green  stand- 
ards on  the  mountain  moved  down  to  assist 
them  in  a  last  rally;  which  was  imwise.  The 
lancers  chafing  in  the  right  gorge  had  thrice 
dispatched  their  only  subaltern  as  galloper 
to  report  on  the  progress  of  affairs.  On  the 
third  occasion  he  returned,  with  a  bullet- 
graze  on  his  knee,  swearing  strange  oaths  in 
Hindoostanee,  and  saying  that  all  things 
were  ready.  So  that  squadron  swung  round 
the  right  of  the  Highlanders  with  a  wicked 
whistling  of  wind  in  the  pennons  of  its 
lances,  and  fell  upon  the  remnant  just  when, 
according  to  the  rules  of  war,  it  should  have 
waited  for  the  foe  to  show  more  signs  of 
wavering. 

But  it  was  a  dainty  charge,  deftly  deliv- 
ered, and  it  ended  by  the  cavalry  finding 
itself  at  the  head  of  the  pass  by  which  the 
Afghans  intended  to  retreat;  and  down  the 


70      The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

track  that  the  lances  had  made  streamed  two 
companies  of  the  Highlanders,  which  was 
never  intended  by  the  brigadier.  The  new 
development  was  successful.  It  detached 
the  enemy  from  his  base  as  a  sponge  is  torn 
from  a  rock,  and  left  him  ringed  about  with 
fire  in  that  pitiless  plain.  And  as  a  sponge 
is  chased  round  the  bath-tub  by  the  hand  of 
the  bather,  so  were  the  Afghans  chased  till 
they  broke  into  little  detachments  much 
more  difficult  to  dispose  of  than  large  masses. 

"See!"  quoth  the  brigadier.  "Every- 
thing has  come  as  I  arranged.  We've  cut 
their  base,  and  now  we'll  bucket  'em  to 
pieces." 

A  direct  hammering  was  all  that  the 
brigadier  had  dared  to  hope  for,  considering 
the  size  of  the  force  at  his  disposal;  but  men 
who  stand  or  fall  by  the  errors  of  their  op- 
ponents may  be  forgiven  for  turning  Chance 
into  Design.  The  bucketing  went  forward 
merrily.  The  Afghan  forces  were  upon  the 
run — the  run  of  wearied  wolves  who  snarl 
and   bite   over   their  shoulders.      The  red 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.      71 

lances  dipped  by  twos  and  threes,  and,  with 
a  shriek,  up  rose  the  lance-butt,  like  a  spar 
on  a  stormy  sea,  as  the  trooper  cantering 
forward  cleared  his  point.  The  lancers  kept 
between  their  prey  and  the  steep  hills,  for  all 
who  could  were  trjdng  to  escape  from  the 
valley  of  death.  The  Highlanders  gave  the 
fugitives  two  hundred  yards'  law,  and  then 
brought  them  down,  gasping  and  choking, 
ere  they  could  reach  the  protection  of  the 
bowlders  above.  The  Gurkhas  followed 
suit;  but  the  Fore  and  Aft  were  killing  on 
their  own  account,  for  they  had  penned  a 
mass  of  men  between  their  bayonets  and  a 
wall  of  rock,  and  the  flash  of  the  rifles  was 
lighting  the  wadded  coats. 

"We  can  not  hold  them.  Captain  Sahib!" 
panted  a  ressaidar  of  lancers.  "  Let  us  try 
the  carbine.  The' lance  is  good,  but  it  wastes 
time." 

They  tried  the  carbine  and  still  the  enemy 
melted  away — fled  up  the  hills  by  hundreds 
when  there  were  only  twenty  bullets  to  stop 
them.     On  the  heights  the  screw-guns  ceased 


72      The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

firing — they  had  run  out  of  ammunition — • 
and  the  brigadier  groaned,  for  the  musketry 
fire  could  not  sufficiently  smash  the  retreat. 
Long  before  the  last  volleys  were  fired  the 
litters-  were  out  in  force  looking  for  the 
wounded.  The 'battle  .was  over,  and,  but  for 
want  of>  fresh  troops,  the  Afghans  would 
Ihave  been  wiped  off  the  earth.  As  it  was 
they  counted  their  dead  by  hundreds,  and 
nowhere  were  the  dead  thicker  than  in  the 
track  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

But  the  regiment  did  not  cheer  with  the 
HigManders,  nor  did  they  dance  uncouth 
dances .^ntli  the  Gurldias  among  the  dead. 
They  looked  under  their  brows  at  the  colonel 
as  they  leaned  upon  their  rifles  and  panted. 

"  Get  back  to  camp,  you!  Haven't  you 
disgraced  yourself  enough  for  one  day?  Go 
and  look  to  the  wounded.  It's  all  you're  fit 
for,"  said  the  colonel.  Yet  'for  the  past  hour 
the'  Fore  and  Aft  had  been  doing  all  that 
mortal  commander  could  expect.  They  had 
lost  heavily  because  they  did  not  know  how 
to. set  about  their  business  with  proper  skill. 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.      73 

but  they  had  borne  themselves  gallantly,  and 
this  was  their  reward. 

A  young  and  sprightly  color-sergeant,  who 
had  begun  to  imagine  himself  a  hero,  offered 
his  water-bottle  to  a  Highlander,  whose 
tongue  was  black  with  thirst.  "  I  drink  with 
no  cowards/'  answered  the  youngster,  husk- 
ily, and  turning  to  a  Gurkha,  said,  "Hya, 
Johnny!  Drink  water  got  it?"  The  Gurkha 
grinned  and  passed  his  bottle.  The  Fore  and 
x\ft  said-  no  word. 

They  went  back  to  camp  when  the  field 
of  strife  had  been  a  little  mopped  up  and 
made  presentable  and  the  brigadier,  who 
saw  himself  a  knight  in  three  months,  was 
the  only  soul  who  was  complimentary  to 
them.  The  colonel  was  heart-broken  and 
the  officers  were  savage  and  sullen. 

"Well,"  said  the  brigadier,  "they  are 
young  troops,  of  course,  and  it  was  not  un- 
natural that  they  should  retire  in  disorder 
for  a  bit." 

"  Oh,  my  only  Aunt  Maria!"  murmured  a 


74      The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft. 

junior  staff  officer.      "  Retire  in  disorder ! 
It  was  a  bully  run!" 

"But  they  came  again  as  we  all  know," 
cooed  tlie  brigadier,  the  colonel's  ashy-white 
face  before  him,  "  and  they  behaved  as  well 
as  could  possibly  be  expected.  Behaved 
beautifully  indeed.  I  was  watching  them. 
It's  not  a  matter  to  take  to  heart,  colonel. 
As  some  German  general  said  of  his  men, 
they  wanted  to  be  shooted  over  a  little,  that 
was  all."  To  himself  he  said: — "Now  they're 
blooded  I  can  give  'em  responsible  work.  It's 
as  "well  that  they  got  what  they  did.  Teach 
'em  more  than  half-a-dozen  rifle  flirtations, 
that  will — later — run  alone  and  bite.  Poor 
old  colonel,  though." 

All  that  afternoon  the  heliograph  winked 
and  flickered  on  the  hills,  striving  to  tell  the 
good  news  to  a  mountain  forty  miles  away. 
And  in  the  evening  there  arrived — dusty, 
sweating,  and  sore — a' misguided  correspond- 
ent who  had  gone  out  to  'assist  at  a  trumpery 
village-burning  and  who  had  read  off  the 


The  Drums  of  the  Fore  and  Aft.      75 

message  from  afar,  cursing  his  luck  the 
while. 

"  Let's  have  the  det^ls  somehow — as  full 
as  ever  you  can,  please.  It's  the  first  time 
Fve  ever  been  left  this  campaign,"  said  the 
correspondent  to  the  brigadier;  and  the 
brigadier,  nothing  loath,  told  him  how  an 
army  of  communication  had  been  crumpled 
up,  destroyed,  and  all  but  annihilated  by  the 
craft,  strategy,  wisdom,  and  foresight  of  the 
brigadier. 

But  some  say,  and  among  these  be  the 
Gurkhas  who  watched  on  the  hill-side,  that 
that  battle  was  won  by  Jakin  and  Lew,  whose 
little  bodies  were  borne  up  just  in  time  to  fit 
two  gaps  at  the  head  of  the  big  ditch-grave 
for  the  dead  under  the  heights  of  Jagai. 


B     000  002  374     7 


